US, Japan and South Korea sign pact to institutionalise defence ties

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin will hold talks with their Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara later on Sunday.

“Secretary Austin plans to announce that the United States intends to reconstitute US Forces Japan as a Joint Force Headquarters, reporting to the commander of US INDOPACOM,” the US official told a briefing ahead of the talks.

The command would be headed by a three-star general, the official said, not the four-star rank that Japan had requested.

For the first time, the ministerial talks between the US and Japan will also cover “extended deterrence”, a term used to describe the US commitment to use its nuclear forces to deter attacks on allies.

Japan provides a base for the US to project its military power in Asia, hosting 54,000 American troops, hundreds of US aircraft and Washington’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group.

Prompted by China’s growing military might and regular missile tests by nuclear-armed North Korea, Japan is stepping back from decades of post-war pacifism. In 2022 it unveiled a plan to double defence spending to two per cent of gross domestic product.

“This memorandum, strengthens the cooperation between Japan, the United States and South Korea, making our partnership unshakeable no matter how the international situation changes,” Kihara told reporters after the meeting.

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North Korean trash balloons flying into South seen at border

Washington also wants to tap Japanese industry to help ease pressure on US defence companies stretched by demand generated by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Last month, Tokyo and Washington opened talks on deeper defence industry collaboration under the US-Japan